Edge of Paradise
by QueenOfTheDream
Summary: 1479, Japan. What starts out as a Sleepy Hollow-esque drama evolves into an odyssey of tolerance, acceptance, and begrudging friendship. Kagome, a miko, and Sesshomaru, a once-great daiyokai, find themselves thrown together in an unfamiliar yet not entirely unpleasant boat, riding stormy seas toward an unknown destiny. A quest for something lost turns into a life-changing journey.
1. Across the Highlands

1479, Feudal, Japan. What starts out as a Sleepy Hollow-esque drama evolves into an odyssey of tolerance, acceptance, and begrudging friendship. Kagome, a miko, and Sesshomaru, a once-great daiyokai, find themselves thrown together in an unfamiliar yet not entirely unpleasant boat, riding stormy seas toward an unknown destiny. A quest for something lost turns into a life-changing journey.

* * *

1497, Sunpu

Kagome shielded her eyes against the bright midday sun as she stepped out of the shrine and gazed at the great silhouette before her, shifting the bow and quiver around the small bundle of supplies upon her back. The shrine maidens in training were hustling and bustling around the little shrine at the base of Mount Fuji as Kagome made her way down the slope and out into the world, deftly sweeping her hair up with a white silk ribbon. Little did she know that it would be the last time she would see the great mountain from such an intimate perspective. Ethereal white wisps of clouds hovered around the summit, hiding the crest of the mountain from view.

Earlier in the morning, a message had arrived at the shrine from Edo, a small fishing village approximately three or four days to the east. According to the messenger, a specter had inhabited the area for several years, but the spirit had very recently begun acting up with progressively worse behavior as time passed. The village was requesting the assistance of a trained miko in order to attempt to solve or at least alleviate the problem. Kagome, being 18 years old, was the only priestess of age remaining in the shrine and thus was obligated to take on the mission. After receiving the task, she was left to collect her supplies for the immediate journey to Edo despite the glaring lack of details pertaining to the situation. Brief goodbyes were issued, and Kagome was sent on her way.

This is where Kagome found herself: alone, on her way out of the only home she'd ever truly known, in search of a wild rampaging demon. She adjusted the pack upon her shoulders as she finished the descent down a particularly steep hill that hid Fuji-san from view. Beads of sweat rolled down her neck to soak into the collar of her white hakui. The knot of the silken pack tied at her throat grated uncomfortably against the hollow of her neck. Rays of hot summer sunlight beat down relentlessly upon her head. As she stumbled over one of many hidden rocks embedded in the ground, she silently cursed the gangs of bandits that made travel via roads impossibly dangerous. With a slight ironic smile crinkling the skin around her eyes, Kagome internally gave a dry commentary on the sad fact that human bandits were a greater threat to her livelihood than the majority of demons, ghosts, and spirits.

The cicadas hummed in the thick, humid air. She could feel her long hakama start to stick to the sweaty flesh of her legs, and she gave a small huff of annoyance at the nuisance. However, with a small shake of the head, she decided instead to think on her awaiting charge in Edo. She ran over a mental checklist of what was to be expected from the situation. Demon run rampant: check. Village living in terror: check. Bloodbath awaiting her: most likely. Prospects of decent payment or at least a place to sleep after defeating the demon: pretty bleak. Chances of this problem magically solving itself: zero.

What truly puzzled her was the lack of detail in the job description. The messenger had not mentioned the type of demon that had been wreaking havoc or the people it had been targeting. No mention had been made of the time of the attacks or the nature of them. Were any actions taken by the villagers or other miko to solve the problem? Was the creature even targeting humans, or was its aim only the destruction of livestock or buildings? The man hadn't even said what the wretched thing looked like. It was as if she was essentially flying blind and unarmed into a dark room, blindfolded and deafened, the only knowledge of her surroundings or situation being "not dead… maybe." She was hoping that the village miko in Edo would be able to tell her more upon her arrival.

Kagome blew an errant lock of hair from in front of her eyes, which promptly flopped over and stuck to the side of her face. The air around her was stagnant and heavy, and no trace of a breeze was to be found. Despite just recently emerging from springtime, the weather gave the impression of being late summer with the oppressive humidity.

She stopped and looked up at the sky, grateful that the majority of the sun was covered by a cloud. By her calculations, she had at least four hours until sunset, which meant at least four hours until she was able to stop and make camp for the night.

Her shoulders slumped forward, but she trudged on through the thick grass. A drawn-out sigh fell from her parted lips. "This is going to be a long four days…"

* * *

Ack, I know this chapter is super short. I apologize. I promise, the following chapters will be longer! :D

Also, a hakui is the white top worn by priestesses. They're often lumped in with haori, but I read somewhere that it's actually called a hakui. Fun fact for the day.


	2. Darkness Come Alive

It was a long four days indeed. Kagome travelled through muck, mud, wretchedly tall grass, and sticky swarms of insects before she finally reached the outskirts of Edo. She looked at the small rice paddies before her and saw in the reflection of the water not the sunset but angry gray swirls, telling of rain soon to begin. No sooner had she looked up from the shimmering pools when a boy suddenly appeared at her side. Kagome reflexively jumped to the side, curling her right hand up inside her haori to discreetly grab her _tanto_, until she saw the boy bowing low and looking, for all intents and purposes, quite harmless.

"Good evening, miko-sama." The boy straightened his back after the bow, the dark shock of hair tied behind his head bobbing at the sudden change in posture. "Kaede-sama, the village's miko, is requesting your presence at once. Shall I escort you?" His big brown eyes made him look no older than a child, though he was clearly close to age fifteen. Kagome relaxed her hold upon her blade and nodded once, going to walk at the boy's side.

"My name is Kohaku, miko-sama. I do not live here, but I welcome you to Edo, though it must not seem like a very warm welcome…" They stopped walking at the crest of a hill just next to the small rice paddies. Kagome could see in the rapidly fading light that there was not a soul to be seen in the village. Her stomach dropped for an instant, in sudden fear that she had come too late to stop the destruction of the village population.

As if sensing her sudden trepidation, Kohaku commented, "The villagers have all returned to their huts, miko-sama. As soon as darkness falls, the villagers clear the streets as quickly as possible for fear of the specter. I'm afraid I haven't been much help." Kagome slid her eyes sideways to look at the boy questioningly as they continued walking, reaching the edge of the village. She noticed briefly the _wakizashi_ secured upon his right hip.

"I am a demon exterminator, miko-sama. My sister and I were sent here to dispatch the demon, but-" He hesitated, looking at the ground bashfully. Kagome remained silent as they approached a hut near a huge tree. They stopped at the entrance, Kagome looking at the shy young man expectantly.

Kohaku averted his eyes with an embarrassed smile and held open the door hanging for Kagome to enter the dwelling of the village priestess. "We, uh, we failed," he finished with a nervous chuckle as the flap fell behind the priestess.

Kagome entered the hut to see an old miko with what appeared to be the village headman sitting to her left and a young woman in demon slayer garb to her right. The girl gave her a measuring look over her steaming cup of tea. With a formal bow, Kagome introduced himself. "Good evening. I am Kagome, the priestess you sent for a few days prior. I hope the long journey has not inconvenienced you." The miko gestured for Kagome to take a seat, and she handed a freshly-poured cup of green tea to the young priestess. She sat, tight-lipped and sipping her tea politely as she took in the people around her. The village headman seemed slightly clueless as he stared blankly at Kagome. She shifted her regard to the demon exterminator and saw, behind the rigid-backed woman, sat a massive curved demon bone propped up against the wooden wall of the hut. The owner of the weapon met her gaze, brown orbs laced with golden flecks looking strikingly like two chips of Tiger's Eye, wild and unyielding to Kagome's perceptive scrutiny.

Upon finishing her tea, she turned to face the head miko of the village. Despite one eye being hidden behind a patch, the older woman seemed to watch her like a hawk. Outside, Kagome heard thunder rolling in the distance, and a light rain began falling. "I suspect ye know why ye be here, young Kagome?" The elder miko questioned her, the map of wrinkles around her eye lending a softness to the sharp gaze. Kagome stared levelly at the woman, not trusting herself to speak calmly to her.

With a heaving sigh, the old woman began spinning her tale. "I am Kaede, this village's priestess. I have attempted to rid the area of the specter, but I have sorely failed. We called for specialized demon exterminators," and she nodded in the direction of the young leather-clad woman to her right, "such as yon Sango and her brother Kohaku, but they also have failed." Sango kept her chin held high, but the set of her shoulders betrayed her shame at their failure.

Kagome nodded in understanding. "And may I ask what type of demon we will be dealing with, Kaede –sama?" She could hear the rain steadily increasing in volume.

"The evil spirit that has been plaguing our village is an extremely powerful demon. Normally, we would have been able to dispatch it, but I fear I am getting on in years and, though capable, the demon slayers are yet young and inexperienced." The old woman stared stonily into the fire with her good eye, and Kagome's irritation grew, though she dared not display it. The priestess was hedging around the issue, and Kagome could not understand why.

"I understand, Kaede-sama," Kagome began, "but I don't fully understand the prob-"

The demon slayer Sango interrupted her with no remorse upon her face as she set her cup down none-too-gently. "The demon has already been slain."

Kagome arched a slender brow in questioning, and the young woman continued. "The demon was slain fifty years ago by the previous miko of this village. Its spirit, however, is resentful and refuses to rest. In retribution, the demon has been harassing the villagers, harshly so in the past few moons."

Kagome's brows furrowed in confusion. It seemed like a simple enough task to purify a vengeful spirit. She glanced at the village headman, who merely nodded his seemingly empty head in confirmation. "Might I enquire about the actions the demon has been taking against the people of this village?" The rain was pouring in fat, heavy droplets that pounded on the roof of the hut. She turned once more to look at Sango, the movement punctuated by a loud clap of thunder accompanied by a bright flash of lightning that seemed to lend to Kagome, whose back faced the door, a supernatural glow.

"The demon," Sango continued, and Kagome could see her slightly clench her fists, "has been decapitating villagers and demons alike for-" She was cut off by a piercing shriek coming from just outside the hut, making Kagome jump to her feet and plunge headlong outside the door. What she saw made her jaw drop.

The tall form of a white-clad man stood outside in the pouring rain, seemingly shining like a beacon. The demon was dressed in an exquisite pearlescent kimono stamped with a crest of royalty at the shoulders. Upon the demon's shoulders, however, there was no head.

At the demon's feet lie Kohaku, who had been standing sentinel at the entrance to the hut. Sango then burst out the door, hand white-knuckled upon her _wakizashi_. Kohaku groaned, attempting to prop himself up onto his elbows. Kagome heard the younger woman gasp, but she held her hand out, barring the young slayer from doing anything rash. Her eyes flitted over to look at Sango and found that she was standing still as a stone, wide eyes staring at the monster before them.

A sound similar to a snake's hiss caught Kagome's attention once more, and she turned her head just in time to see a whip of bright green flame snap through the air and lop the slayer boy's head off with a sizzle and wide arc of blood illuminated by the eerie glow of the youki whip. Sango screamed and attempted to dart forward, but Kagome grabbed her shoulders with an iron grip and, without taking her eyes from the demon, pushed the frantic slayer behind her and back into the doorway of Kaede's hut.

The ghostly demon bent down slowly and picked up the head of the young boy, the heavy rainfall making quick work of the blood and sticky mud upon the right side of his face. With dawning horror, Kagome saw the demon lift the boy's head and place it upon his shoulders. It then turned its gaze to her, Kohaku's dead eyes staring stonily at her. However, with no provocation, she saw Kohaku's head begin to inexplicably melt. The skin of the young boy's face slowly started running like tallow, and the juncture where the head met the demon's neck began to glow green and froth, spitting molten flesh that flecked the pristine kimono of the demon.

With one swift motion, the demon reached up and yanked the head cleanly off of his neck and rolled it upon the ground until the remains of Kohaku's ponytail brushed the edge of Kagome's sandals. The specter stood facing the stupefied miko, and she realized with dismay that she had left her bow and quiver inside of the hut. The demon, however, turned and, stepping over the headless corpse of the young demon slayer, walked slowly into the forest, disappearing into the mist.

Behind her, Kagome heard a slick slithering sound and quickly turned around, muscles coiled and ready to spring, and saw Sango slipping to the ground in a faint, the headman catching her and dragging her inside before she landed in the mud.

Kagome turned around and, seeing no trace of the demon's spectral glow, went forward to retrieve what was left of Kohaku's crumpled, mud-soaked form.


	3. Some Kind of Magick

After retrieving the body, Kagome was directed by Kaede to a small dusty futon tucked into the corner of the hut, upon which she promptly collapsed and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Upon waking the following morning, Kagome ravenously devoured the small bowl of rice offered to her by Kaede, having taken no supper the night before, and then sat in silence while the elder priestess sent for Sango. She noticed with a note of embarrassment that it must have been several hours past daybreak and made a mental note to apologize to Kaede for her rudeness. Kagome was combing her fingers through her tangled hair when Sango entered the hut, dressed in tidy common clothing instead of her demon hunting gear. Her hair was tied loosely between her shoulder blades, falling along the sides of her face and lending softness to the battle-hardened- and –wizened visage.

Kagome bowed before Sango as the slayer took a seat on the opposite side of the cooking far. "I am deeply sorry for the loss of your younger brother." Her forehead almost touched the ground, and it hit her for the first time that the demon exterminator was in grieving for her younger brother. The enormity of the situation fell heavily upon Kagome's shoulders.

"I don't want your pity," the slayer said coldly, but without malice. Kagome saw a brief flicker of sorrow in Sango's eyes, but it was quickly concealed by a perfect mask of stone. "What I want now is revenge. This demon has brought grief, unhappiness, and death to too many people, to too many families. It must be stopped. No quarter will be given." Her tone brooked no argument, and she stared piercingly into Kagome's eyes, nostrils flaring in a small show of the deep well of ire she housed.

"What is known of this demon's background? Does anybody know how it got into such a condition that it is cursed to roam headless, raiding village to village until it finds a suitable replacement?" Kagome looked from Sango to Kaede. Kaede shook her head slowly, and rose to her feet, wobbling slightly on arthritic knees.

"I must leave for the day to collect herbs. My store is low, and what is left has decayed over the winter. I have a feeling that you, Kagome, will be needing many of them to defeat the demon that has been plaguing this village for so long." Kagome's eyes followed the old woman out the door until Sango cut in.

"I was informed that the village priestess before Kaede-sama was the one who vanquished the demon. I believe that it is indeed a curse, for I know that the demon has a corporeal body. Koh- my brother and I were able to inflict wounds upon the creature. The night before you arrived, I sliced it cleanly in half with my Hiraikotsu." She absently patted the enormous demon bone weapon that she apparently carried with her at all times. "It did not bleed." Kagome's eyebrows disappeared into her bangs. "I watched its flesh knit itself back together as if it was nothing," the young woman concluded, wringing her hands with unassumingly entreating eyes seemingly searching for some solution in Kagome's face.

Kagome attempted to fix her features into a look of understanding and helpfulness, but the evidences that Sango had just proved put a damper upon Kagome's confidence in her ability to defeat the specter.

"Have any miko or holy men attempted to eliminate this demon?" In the back of her mind, she was praying to every benevolent spirit she could name that the answer was no.

A look of understanding sympathy crossed Sango's face much to Kagome's surprise. "Unfortunately, a miko and several monks have tried to rid this village of the menace from what I've heard. They were unable to do so, as the demon remains, but their heads do not." Kagome tried not to wince at the grim frankness with which Sango was speaking.

With a sigh, Kagome rose, stretching out her tense back muscles. "I suppose I should make myself useful until dusk." With a slight smile, she chirped, "Are there any villagers in need of a miko?"

Rising to her feet as well, Sango's brows furrowed, as if in confusion. "When are there not people that need aid?"

A wide smile split Kagome's face as she let out a quiet, breathy giggle. "Never, Sango-chan." She walked out of the hut, leaving Sango standing behind, too stunned at the casual informality with which the miko had addressed her to be angry about it.

She spent the rest of the day in a hut on the eastern edge of Edo making a poultice for a young boy with a sprained knee. As she was politely sipping the stew provided by the child's mother and looking out the doorway, she faintly acknowledged the tiny sliver of sunlight resting upon the horizon whilst brainstorming potential methods to eliminate the demon and put an end to its chilling acts.

Mere seconds after she finished her stew and gave thanks for the meal, a man stumbled headlong into the hut with a loud screech of alarm. Amidst the frantic shouts of the man and the panicked cries of the huts inhabitants, Kagome was able to make out the words "demon," and "just outside." Without thinking, she snatched up her bow and quiver and bolted out the door.

She promptly discovered that "just outside" meant just that: the demon was standing not but 20 feet from where she stood. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as a light breeze brushed her face. Just under the edge of its fluttering haori, she could see the imposing creature's long fingers twitching grotesquely. The long claws reflected tiny, muted points of moonlight.

Nerves frayed and brain unable to come up with a better idea, Kagome slowly reached over her shoulder to grab an arrow out of the quiver… only find none there. She could feel the blood draining from her face, causing her to become slightly dizzy, for she saw that in her haste to exit the hut, she had inadvertently spilled all of her arrows upon the floor. The tension and fear in the air was nearly palpable, and she could feel her palms begin to sweat.

Without warning, the demon darted forward, the fingers on its right hand radiating sickening green light as it prepared to deliver the fatal strike.

The droning of cicadas matched the pace of her racing heart, and as she crashed down to her knees, she threw her hands out in an instinctual last-ditch effort to save her life. A hot searing pain surged across the fingers and palm of her left hand, and she squeezed her eyes shut. A shrill cry of pain flew from her suddenly-dry lips before she could stifle it.

After taking a few seconds to fully understand that she was indeed still alive, Kagome gathered enough courage to crack one eye open to look at her assailant.

She almost jumped backward. Not 3 inches from her hand was the glowing index finger of the demon, which looked as if frozen in place. Even its clothes were suspended mid-air, unmoving. She looked up and saw that the demon had turned a luminous pink color. She vaguely heard the inhabitants of the hut behind her gasp; whether it be in horror, awe, or in the dying throes of suicide, she did not know. Then, it dawned upon her: the demon was not mysteriously pink; it was her, or rather a crackling pink bubble around her crouched form.

At that moment, the magic seemed to disappear. The mysterious casing of energy dissolved, leaving nothing but exquisite silence, the atmosphere hovering around them utterly purified. The air smelled sharp and clean and it was comfortingly warm, like a light dusting of velvety soot of burned juniper wood. In that all-encompassing silence, Kagome, for a split second, fancied that she could hear the moon-kissed water rippling in the rice paddies outside the far edge of the village.

The moment was shattered, however, when the demon's feet touched back down upon the ground, the soft fluttering of its delicate kimono sleeves contrasting with the loud crack of a large twig snapping underfoot.

The fear returned as fiercely and suddenly as a slap to the face. Kagome dug her fingers into the dirt before her, trying frantically to come up with an alternate escape plan. Her fear was unfounded, however, for the demon swiftly turned on its heel and shot into the wooded thicket behind it.

Sitting in a stupor, she distantly heard the door hanging of the hut flap closed behind her. She pulled her fingertips out of the earth. An intense stinging had taken root in the pads of the fingers on her left hand. She looked down to see that, the layer of damp earth and broken-down plant matter was matted to her fingers by means of the blood and fluids that were oozing from them. It felt as if she had bathed her left hand in fire while the rest of her body was as cold as ice. In the back of her mind, Kagome recognized the burns as those caused by youki, but she had slipped too far into a daze to respond.

A light crunching was progressively growing louder to her right. Her eyes darted over to see Sango's _zori_ sandals approaching her. She had apparently seen the entire incident judging by the astounded look written upon her face. "What was that?"

"…I don't know, Sango." It wasn't until after she said it that she realized that Sango's question could apply to several events that had happened that night. It was after she had dressed her wounds and lay down upon the dusty futon that she realized that her answer applied to so many more things.


	4. Where Heroes and Cowards Part Ways

Eight days and night passed without gaining headway. Various protective herbs were hung upon lintels to no avail. Kagome tried using a warding spell to set up a protective block around the village. It paled in comparison to the miraculous barrier she had managed to summon on her second night in Edo. All of her attempts were foiled and every night, someone, whether it was a villager or a demon in the area, lost their life to the marauding demon's insatiable appetite for vengeance and destruction.

Kagome could not help but notice that throughout all of her trials, errors, and inevitable bloody cleanups, Kaede had made herself quite scarce. She apparently spent a large portion of that time in a small, secluded hut in the forest just outside of the village. Whilst scrubbing her filthy clothing with which she arrived in Edo, Kagome made a mental note to find some way to confront the elder priestess about her noticeable absence.

After hauling the sopping clothes from the cool stream and up to dry upon a line strung between two low-hanging branches, the young miko returned to Kaede's little hut. Upon entering, she saw that, once again, the old woman was nowhere to be seen. Blowing an errant lock of hair from her face, Kagome turned smartly upon her heel and strode with purpose to the edge of the forest with the intent to firmly confront Kaede once and for all.

She walked past several large lichen-covered trees, having to duck under hanging strings of leafy kudzu vines until she reached a small clearing. Upon the farthest edge sat a dilapidated, unassuming little hut. A tiny seed of doubt took root in the back of her mind and, unbeknownst to Kagome, quickly grew and writhed behind the annoyance and irritation she harbored. Walking forward cautiously, she tripped over a protruding tree root and noticed with a pang of equal parts trepidation and exasperation that the clearing, and therefore the hut, was almost entirely shaded by the tall, overreaching canopy above.

"Kaede-sama," Kagome called out. There was no response, so she continued forward. She told herself that the light rustling in the brush nearby was a figment of her imagination as she reached for the rotting door hanging.

"Kaede-sama?"

She stepped just into the hut, holding the bamboo door flap upon her left shoulder as she leaned inside. Quickly she ducked, for above her head hung numerous sagging, dusty cobwebs that looked like a net waiting to ensnare her from above. In the corner of the dimly-lit hut, she could see a huddled form quivering. It abruptly turned around, and Kagome could see wide, luminous eyes sunken into an old woman's wrinkled face, which promptly split into a spine-chilling farce of a grin. As Kagome opened her mouth to inquire about Kaede's whereabouts, the old woman screeched and howled, causing Kagome to unbecomingly screech and stumble backwards and out of the hut, where she tripped and landed hard upon her backside.

As she gingerly got back upon her feet, she realized that the bizarre raving of the hut's inhabitant was, in fact, hysterical, cackling laughter. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Doubt and fear took over, and Kagome began retreating out of the clearing. When she turned around, a moving figure came directly into her vision from behind a copse of trees, and she let out an alarmed yelp.

Her heart was pounding in the back of her throat when she saw that the intruder was merely the village's absentee miko, who was looking at her as if she'd sprouted a second head.

"What ails ye, child? Your face looks as if ye have seen a ghost."

With a deflated sigh, Kagome's racing pulse began to return to its normal state. Ghosts were the least of her problems. "Kaede-sama, may I speak with you? I believe we have quite pressing matters to discuss." She leaned upon her longbow, trying for all the world to look casual and not as if her legs were about to give out from the fading adrenaline rush.

Kaede nodded and simply turned around and headed in the direction of the village. Kagome failed at regaining her composure and clumsily plodded after her. She tried to regain some semblance of composure and dignity as they stepped into the village. She noticed most people turning away, averting their eyes as they retreated into their huts for the evening. Turning away from the blazing sun on the horizon, she followed Kaede into her modest home.

After starting a fire and starting a stew, Kagome wasted no time with her interrogation. She could see the light underneath the doorway was quickly fading.

"Kaede-sama, I will be frank. Nothing has been able to deter the demon. Nothing seems to hurt him or stop him. I fear I may be unable to help you."

The old woman nodded her head sagely. "I had hoped that you would have been able to rid of us this specter. Stay, child, and listen, for it is nearing dusk, and the information I give you is of the utmost importance." Kagome leveled a deadpan stare at the miko, her hands politely folded in her lap despite the impatience roiling inside of her.

"This demon was sealed away by the previous miko of the village. She was indeed quite powerful. Much more adept than me, I must say. The demon had been… trouble, so she took care of it." Kaede stared into the stew as she stirred it, unwilling to turn her brown eye to Kagome.

"Kaede-sama, I already knew this. I do not mean to make threats, but I'm afraid that if you do not provide me with more information, I will have to leave and find a more suitable person to deal with this menace." Kagome fidgeted with the hem of her _hakui_, picking absently at some loose threads.

With a sigh, Kaede continued. "I wish it had not come to this. This demon frequented the village when I was a child. Unfortunately, things became…volatile, and necessary actions were taken." Outside, Kagome could hear that the village had fallen into silence, each inhabitant anticipating the demon's return and fearing that it would be their home it would plague.

"The demon was sealed and its head was removed so that the spell could be completed." Kaede then rose and hobbled over to a pile of dusty belongings in the corner. Gingerly moving scrolls and dried herbs to rest upon the floor, she took a wooden box in her hands and shuffled back over to the fire. She motioned Kagome to move to the side of the fire, and she sat in front of her, gently laying the old box upon the floor between them.

"I had truly hoped that it would not come to such measures. Young Kagome, you must not breathe a word of this." Kagome nodded her head, and Kaede continued, her wrinkled hands prying the dusty lid from the box and setting it aside.

Kagome leaned forward to peer inside and saw a large rolled up swath of red silk. "This, child, is the very last resort to dealing with this monster," Kaede stated gravely, reaching into the container to pull out the large bundle. She hesitated, looking to Kagome for confirmation, as if she ever had a choice in the matter. The young woman nodded slightly, and Kaede began unwrapping the bundle, her arthritic fingers slowly unraveling the silk.

From a crease in the silk, Kagome could see a sliver of something silver or grey. With one final move of her hand, the old priestess cleared away the silk, revealing the object inside. Kagome's breath hitched, and she instinctively recoiled.

Sitting upon the lap of the elder woman was the severed head of a demon.

Kagome gaped for what seemed like an eternity. Long silver hair pooled around the head, making it look as if the bloodless face was enveloped by a cloud. With dread, she discovered the markings: twin crimson stripes on each cheek and a midnight blue crescent moon upon the forehead.

"It's… a daiyokai? H-how…" Kagome foundered for words, looking into Kaede's wizened face for answers. The old woman merely nodded and handled the bundle to the shocked miko.

"You must return the head to its wandering body. It is our last hope," Kaede murmured, and Kagome silently buried her fingers into the thick silver hair and stood up, her free hand shooting out to brace herself against the wall. Fear had made her limbs seemingly turn to water, and Kagome could feel the demon's jaw drop and slide against her thigh in a mockery of speech as she shakily made her way to the doorway. She suppressed a shudder and shifted the head so that it was tucked under her arm, her hand under the jaw to prevent it from moving again. Just as she slung her bow and full quiver over her shoulder and exited the hut, Sango ran up, dressed in full slayer regalia.

"I've spotted the demon. It's just outside the other side of the village…" Her voice faltered when she saw the macabre sight before her: Kagome, thin-lipped, wide-eyed, and pale as the specter itself, holding the severed head of a demon, whose eyelids had slid open to reveal the whites.

"I… I think I'm going to need your help, Sango," Kagome said lowly, her voice quivering dangerously. Sango nodded dumbly, her grip noticeably tightening upon the strap of her hiraikotsu, and she turned, leading the way through the deserted roads of Edo.

* * *

*_hakui:_ this is the white top worn by miko. It's often called a _haori,_ but I read somewhere that it's not actually a _haori_. Fun fact for the day.


	5. Black as the Seal on my Soul

The two women shortly reached the outskirts of the village, both with uncertainty etched upon their features. Sango guided the young miko into a small space between two huts.

"How are we going to do this," Sango asked breathlessly, her voice slightly pitched up in worry.

Kagome's eyes widened. She hadn't though that far in advance if she was to be completely honest with herself. "All I know is that this," she hoisted the severed head up to be planted more firmly under her arm, "needs to be returned to the demon." Sango looked like her jaw would drop, but she hastily replaced the staggered expression with one of stony resolve and leveled her gaze to stare into Kagome's wide, panicky eyes.

"So you're saying that you need a distraction, correct? I think I can manage that."

Kagome paled. She could feel her lips trembling and dared not speak, for she feared that her voice would further betray her apprehension and anxiety. She bowed her head forward, unable to affirm Sango's statement.

Sango, seeing the priestess' fear and nervousness, sighed heavily. "We have passed the time for hesitation. We will do what must be done." Kagome looked up to the slayer, attempting to regain her poise.

"There must be another way to accomplish this without you putting your life on the line. It-" She was cut off when Sango raised her hand, effectively silencing the younger woman.

"If there is another way, we've passed the point of discovering it. We have no time left. The demon is approaching." Surely enough, Kagome could hear light footfall coming from the direction of the forest.

"You cannot use your bow with one hand holding the… that thing. I will distract him as best I can. You, on the other hand, have to figure out how to get that thing's head back upon its shoulders without losing your own in the process." Sango's lips stretched into a small grin, and Kagome's confidence increased.

"Be careful…"

"There's no need to fret. My blood won't end up on your hands. You can count on that, Kagome-chan." Sango winked before stepping into the moonlight to confront their enemy. A careful smile graced Kagome's face, but it was quickly exchanged for a countenance of hard determination as she saw the demon appear from behind the trees. She quietly came forward, making sure that her position would not hinder or compromise Sango.

The slayer squared her shoulders and shifted her stance. The demon continued walking forward, and with a loud yell , she hurled her weapon with the intent of lopping off a limb.

To her horror, however, the demon, by some preternatural means, dodged the weapon and darted forward toward the slayer in a blur of white. Kagome yelped and sprinted toward the tree line, watching their plan crumble to ash in terrified paralysis.

Before the stunned slayer could reach for the wakizashi secured at her side, the demon lashed out, striking the woman with its forearm and sending her crashing into a tree with a sickening crack. As she slid to the ground, Kagome saw that she left a smear of blood along the bark.

In the time that it took to shift her panicked gaze away from the fallen woman, Kagome saw her world tilt as she was pushed backward with a powerful swipe of the demon's hand. The back of her head slammed into the base of a tree, and her vision blurred. She was barely able to make out two swaying duplicates of the white-clothed demon slowly walking toward her.

The incapacitated girl was helpless as the demon pounced on her small form, digging the long claws of his left hand into her shoulder. She could feel hot blood bubbling up from the deep puncture wounds, and a scream almost flew from her lips until the demon's other hand came up to ghost over her throat.

The demon's knees bored painfully into her thighs, preventing escape. She saw it bring its right hand back, the index finger emanating pale green light.

As he swung his arm down, the world slowed. Vision suddenly clear, she forced the pale head from under the crook of her arm and into both hands and heaved her hands above her head. Looking over the demon's broad shoulders, she saw the moon glowing just above the center of the torso.

Following the moon's beacon, she threw her hands forward and slammed the head upon its shoulders just as a glowing claw grazed the base of her throat, causing the skin there to slightly sizzle. The demon froze. Kagome could vaguely hear the eerie howling of a wolf in the distance split the thick silence.

She watched in morbid fascination as the flesh of the neck fused with that of the shoulders. The demon removed both hands, his claws pulling out of the deep wounds in her shoulder and eliciting a small cry from her. Her left hand flew up to cover the wound, which was soaking through her hakui and staining the earth below her.

Her blood ran cold when, instead of turning to ash or vanishing, the demon's eyelids snapped open, revealing haunting golden irises that bored into her like discs of fire.

His face contorted into a deadly sneer, and delicately arched eyebrows sank dangerously low upon his brow. "…Kikyou," he rasped lowly, his vocal chords unused to being worked after 50 years of severance and dormancy. He sprung backward, landing deftly upon his feet before crouching back into a striking position.

Quickly scrambling to her feet, Kagome shook her head rapidly, causing her to reel like a drunkard before catching herself on another tree trunk. With rising dread, she watched her longbow and quiver fall from her shoulder, both smashed and broken to pieces beyond repair from the fall. Her eyes flew back to the demon, who was furiously growling.

"How dare you show your face again, you treacherous sorceress," he snarled, the whites of his eyes bleeding to crimson.

Shaking her head once more, Kagome managed to utter a shaky response. "N-no. Forgive me, but you mistake me for another. I know not of any 'Kikyou,' but I have restored life to you. I… humbly request that you leave the village, for there is no reason to linger and continue your torment." She bowed as lowly as her battered body allowed.

To Kagome's despondency, this only appeared to anger the demon further. "You lie," he ground out, his face contorting into an expression of raw malice. "Where are my swords? A vile shrew such as yourself is not worthy of the touch of my bare hands." A small voice in the back of Kagome's head itched to point out her scarred left hand and new burn at the base of her throat, but it was ruthlessly quashed as her mouth was gaping like a fish, grasping for words that were so out of reach.

Before the demon could get in a word, or perhaps more likely, a strike, uneven, thumping footsteps could be heard approaching at a rapid pace. Turning her head to the left, she could see Kaede hobbling toward them as fast as her old bones could take her.

"Sesshomaru-sama, you must stop," the old woman wheezed out as she came to a stop in front of Kagome, whose vision was becoming increasingly hazy and swirling.

The demon's lips curled back in a snarl, displaying sharp canines that glistened in the moonlight. "Who are you to command me, human?"

Ignoring the insult completely, Kaede continued. "Yon Kagome here has managed to revive you after 50 years of dormancy. She surely does not deserve to be meted punished by you for such an act. Kikyou… Kikyou is dead, my lord." The old woman held her head up high, but Kagome could see her throat bobbing nervously. The last thing Kagome saw was this "Lord Sesshomaru" turning to look at her, the alarming blur to her eyesight lending a seeming glow to his white-clad form. She then promptly crumpled to the ground with a dull thud. In her unconscious state, she realized not how close she had come to death.

The demon lord darted forward to the prone miko, turning her limp body over with his booted foot. As he bent over to examine her more closely, he seemed to have come to a conclusion judging by the sidelong glance and accompanying scowl: one that indeed confirmed the aged priestess' claim. With a flare of his nostrils and a spiteful glare at the unaware young girl's face, he spun on his heel and disappeared into the forest, leaving the stunned Kaede to attempt to rouse the battered miko and slayer and wonder what manner of beast had been unleashed from its cage.


	6. All the Blood-Red Carpets Before Me

Kagome awoke to the sound of muffled shuffling. She experimentally tried turning her head, only to meet with tense resistance by her neck muscles as well as a sharp pain in the back of her skull that left her nauseated. She attempted to open her eyes… only to see nothing.

Neurons snapped and popped to life, flooding her with a biting panic. A thousand words were whizzing around her head, but all that managed to tumble out of her dry lips was a weak, "Hnnngh."

Heavy footsteps thumped toward her. "You're finally awake, child. The slayer has been worried." She felt old fingertips probing what she could only guess to be bandages covering her arms and neck. "Is there anything ye need, child?"

Trying to force her vocal cords to make sounds felt like trying to swallow a mouthful of sand and gravel. "W-water," she managed to rasp. Almost immediately, a wooden cup was gently pressed to her lips. She drank greedily, feeling the coolness dripping down her chin and onto her clothing. With a sputter, she gulped the last of the water, panting slightly from the effort. "Kaede-sama, my eyes… Why can't I see? Did the demon-" she halted abruptly, the memory of the previous night returning to flood her mind. "The demon, Kaede-sama! Where is it?!"

She heard a trickling sound and attempted to prop her body up onto her sore elbows only to be pushed down gently with a light sigh. "All in good time, child. All in good time. As for your eyes, they remain undamaged. Rest has only made the lids stick together." Kagome felt a cool, damp cloth laid across her closed eyes accompanied by a light rubbing. Her eyelids began loosening, and the cloth was removed. She cracked her eyes open only to jam them back shut to avoid the unforgivingly bright sunlight. Kaede then smoothly guided the young woman into a sitting position.

"How bad is it," Kagome asked tentatively, opening her eyes just enough that her eyelashes muted some of the light. She tamped down a squeak of pain as Kaede began unwinding the soiled bandages from her left shoulder, none-too-gently prying the crusted strips of cloth from the raw skin. Kagome's right hand came up to hover over the burn she knew would be upon her neck from the demon's youki. A shudder ran down her spine as her fingertips ghosted over the raised mutilated flesh, feeling the rounded bubbles of fluid that rested under her skin.

"It could be much worse. You are lucky that Sesshomaru-sama spared your life before he left for the west."

"Left?" Kagome's brow creased in confusion. "He just… left? That's it?"

"Aye, child, and I am in no shape to go up against such a deadly foe. It is better this way." Kagome yelped as Kaede probed the newly-exposed shoulder. Mid-wince, Kagome saw Sango enter the hut looking tired, but otherwise no worse for the wear.

"Sango-chan, you're alive! I'm so glad. I thought that he had killed you. You fell, a-and there was so much blood-"

"Kagome, stop," Sango chuckled as she lowered herself to the floor to sit near the battered priestess. "It was only a cut on the back of my head. Kaede-sama fixed it with no problems." She finished with a reassuring smile and a gentle pat on Kagome's hand.

"Aye, she speaks the truth. Wounds to the head oft bleed deceptively much." The elder woman nodded sagely while tenderly rubbing a foul-smelling salve upon the weeping puncture wounds in Kagome's shoulder.

"Kagome," Sango started with a firm voice, causing the priestess to swing weary eyes in her direction. "What happened to the demon? Were you able to take care of it?"

Kagome cast her eyes down, running her fingers over the tight new scar tissue covering the fingertips on her left hand.

"Kagome…" Sango trailed off questioningly, demanding an answer with her expectant gaze.

"…I couldn't kill it, Sango." Kagome brought her eyes up to meet the slayer's. "I put the head on the shoulders-" She winced as Kaede patted her newly-bandaged shoulder before continuing. "I put the head on the shoulders, and it came to life. The head attached, and the demon gained consciousness. Kaede-sama told me that it ran away after that. I'm sorry, Sango." Kagome hung her head in shame.

The room fell silent as Sango sat still, trying to control her rage. In an attempt to regain an ounce of modesty, Kagome pulled up the collar of the sleeping yukata Kaede had evidently dressed her in after dragging her inside from the fight the previous night.

It was Kaede herself, however, that broke the silence. "I suppose I should inform you of this demon's past." Both pairs of eyes turned to the elderly woman. With a sigh, she pushed two cups of green tea toward the girls.

"The demon- Sesshomaru, was once a great lord of the western lands. His father was lord before him, and so on, back countless generations. It was said that he was the strongest demon in all the land. I know that he was the strongest demon that I ever saw, and I have not seen the likes of it since then.

"It is said that when out patrolling his lands, he came across a priestess: the priestess of Edo before I. I know not the specifics of their relationship, but he was increasingly spending more and more time in Edo, despite the fact that it lay in the eastern lands.

"I know not the circumstances surrounding the happenings, but things between the miko and Sesshomaru's relationship began deteriorating rapidly. Rumor has it that the miko was being controlled by a dark sorcerer who wanted her for himself.

"The dark sorcerer, known as Naraku, planted the seeds of doubt in the miko's mind, and it grew and rotted within. Things between Onee-sama and the demon became volatile, and she sealed him and removed his head to ensure that he never awoke to terrorize again."

Sango's eyebrows screwed together, confused at Kaede's slip of either the mind or the tongue. It was Kagome that spoke then.

"…Onee-sama?"

"Oh-" Kaede faltered as if it was information she was unwilling to divulge. After a brief inner battle, she seemed to calm. "Yes. The village miko was my elder sister. She was the one who cast the spell upon Sesshomaru."

Understanding dawned upon the younger priestess. "And your older sister was… Kikyou-sama?" She was rewarded with a single nod of Kaede's head.

Sango abruptly slammed her cup down upon the floor, spilling the remnants of her tea. "I don't care who this demon is or what his background is. I want him dead. I demand retribution for his actions against Kohaku!" Kaede made an effort to control the demon exterminator's rising anger as Kagome slipped behind a folding screen. When she reappeared, she was re-clothed in her usual miko attire with a new bow in hand. She walked slowly to Sango and laid a comforting hand upon the shaking woman's shoulder.

"It was due to my own mistake that this demon continues to roam the land, and so it is my duty to slay it. I promise you, Sango; I will avenge Kohaku and all of the people who have lost their lives to this demon."

Meanwhile, near the backwater town of Hachioji, a white figure darted between trees so quickly that the villagers noticed nothing but a light change in the breeze. It stopped behind a hut on the fringe of the small village and discreetly slipped through the doorway. A pale white hand shot out and landed upon the shoulder of a man, immediately turning him about-face. The man's red-brown eyes widened in surprise, but then quickly narrowed as a smirk carved its way into his features. A low, malicious voice filled the room.

"It has been quite a while, hasn't it, Onigumo? Or should I say …Naraku?"

Before the man could respond, his throat and torso were slashed to jagged ribbons with one flick of the demon's claws, his neck gaping open and hanging at a horrifying angle before the demon released him, the body hitting the floor with a splash as it landed in a growing puddle of blood.

Instead of quelling his anger and satiating his desire for revenge, Naraku's death seemed to awaken a fury, a hunger, a _beast_ that yearned to be satisfied. He slipped into the next home undetected and swiftly dispatched the family within. His thirst for blood was still not slaked, and he gave in to the rage, to the feeling of warm flesh parting between his fingers, to the hunt. His vision went red, and he let go of the remains of his moral restraints.

Moving from hut to hut, the killings became more frenzied, more savage, and soon villagers were scrambling for their lives, running from the red-soaked demon with raw wrath in its eyes and death upon its bloodstained claws. He tore them all down – every fleeing human- their bodies falling in the roads and turning them crimson.

Accompanied by a symphony of screams and cries, Sesshomaru slaughtered the village in its entirety and began his bloody rampage across the countryside, leaving nothing but shredded flesh and destruction in his wake.


	7. The Strife, the Suffering, the Void

Sesshomaru came upon a quiet village after passing through the last town. Again, there were no survivors to attest to his brute strength and rage.

He knew in the back of his mind that he was being irrational, but decades of pent-up frustration and energy had almost completely taken over his conscience, making him immune to the moans of the elderly, the wailing of the women and screaming of the children, all whom succumbed to his deadly touch. Still, he walked from door to door in this noiseless new village, searching for lives to end.

Kagome swiftly traversed the long and muddy road toward the capital of the Kai Province. Her provisions were very light, and so she walked, jogged, and ran for as long as she could while reserving a small amount of strength to fend off any attackers. Just before departing Edo to search for Sesshomaru, she had received an urgent message telling of a tragic plague in the capital of the Kai Province just to the west of Edo. Despite the internal conflict of accepting one mission over the other, Kagome had no choice but to reply to the desperate cry for aid. Along the road, however, she had heard people of tiny villages or vagrants telling of a rampaging demon's bloody path of devastation arcing out from the small village of Hachioji. The capital was encompassed in this arc of potential destruction, so she decided to be wary and keep a sharp eye on the lookout. Despite her stinging shoulder and aching muscles, she charged on, bound and determined to carry out her duties as a priestess.

By midday, she had reached the hillside outside of the capital. Looking down upon the town, she saw very little of note- suspiciously little. The village was eerily quiet, and the roads and byways were completely empty of human activity. As she navigated down the embankment, she entered the village. A forceful gust of wind answered the questions lingering in the back of her mind. It was as if a wall of rot and decaying illness plowed into her face, and she almost reeled from the sudden impact. The fetid reek of human waste coupled with vomit in the humid heat funneled into her nostrils and lingered, making her lurch and gag. Grasping her longbow and steeling her nerves, she approached the first hut before her.

It wasn't until she entered the hut that she fully grasped the situation. Human waste was smeared upon the floor, and the tremendously loud buzzing of flies was the only sound in her ears. The stench of the putrid, bloated corpses decomposing on the ground before her forced the contents out of her stomach, and she retched outside of the door, tears streaming down her face from the force of her reaction. Wiping her mouth with shaking hands, she walked from hut to hut, finding nothing but death and decay.

After entering and exiting seven huts and finding no survivors, Kagome was prepared to leave the decimated town until she felt an enormous pulse of youki extremely close by. The burst of raw power nearly made her stagger, and she sprinted toward the source of it with a renewed vigor.

Arriving at the entrance to another corpse-occupied hut, Kagome had an arrow nocked, and carefully stepped inside. Upon seeing a cascade of long silver hair, she deftly ducked back outside, her heart pounding in her chest and fingers tightening around her bow.

"I can hear you, miko," rumbled a low voice from within that made Kagome's hackles rise. She stilled.

She thought she heard a small sigh. "I can sense your reiki, miko."

"Come out, Sesshomaru. I request an audience," Kagome said, proud of the hard determination in her voice that masked her trembling fear.

"I am not in the habit of obeying lowly humans. I give you fair warning: leave now and you may have your life. You will also address me with my proper title, or else I may recant my offer."

Kagome's eyes widened as she realized that the demon was allowing her to escape with her life. She had returned his to him, and he was allowing her the same favor. An inkling of annoyance wormed its way into her thoughts. Who was he to be giving demands, this has-been lord?

Before she could barge into the structure, Sesshomaru exited, and her breath hitched in her chest. His entire anterior was covered in dried blood, the silk stiff and discolored a rusty brown. However, where she expected to see the face of a blood-crazed madman, she instead caught a glimpse of the face of a man who is lamentably lost. His golden eyes narrowed and stared back at her like hard chips of topaz, but Kagome saw past the façade to look upon the dignified man who was too proud to ask for a helping hand. She felt her heart break for him; this demon that tried to drown his woes in blood. She dropped down to her knees and bowed low to the ground at his feet.

"I deeply apologize for my actions, Sesshomaru-sama. If I had known of this drifter's life that I inadvertently gave you, I would have found some other way to relieve you of this curse. Please forgive me." Her knees and legs sank in the mud, and she could smell the fouled stagnant water standing in tiny puddles around her.

Fully expecting to be struck down, she was surprised to see Sesshomaru's boots walking out of her field of vision. She scrambled to her feet with some difficulty and began running after him. "Please, Sesshomaru-sama, please wait! I cannot help you if you won't talk to me!"

He abruptly stopped, causing Kagome to skid to a halt, earning her a mud-soaked posterior. She had to crane her neck to properly look into his face. His lips pursed, and his evaluating gaze raked over her form, one eyebrow quirked skeptically at the clumsy young woman. "In your current state, you cannot even help yourself, and yet you claim to be able to aid me? And if I remember correctly, you were the one to put me into this situation."

She was floored by his unexpected change of mood, but promptly regained her composure. "Please, my lord. I cannot help you if you are unwilling. I would like to return to my home temple, for the miko there are very wise; much more so than I am."

Sesshomaru swiftly replied, "It seems that would not be difficult to accomplish." His arms came up to fold across his chest, and he looked down his nose at her with an arrogant attitude.

Shoulders sagging in defeat, she mumbled incoherently and started trudging through the mud and out of the village.

From behind her, she heard a haughty voice state imperiously, "And let it be known, miko, that I am not accepting your help. I am in search for a cure. If anything, you need my help." Flabbergasted at his brazenness, she topped in her tracks, and the tall demon walked right past her.

"By all means, lead the way," Kagome muttered sarcastically, falling in step behind him.

The two had reached the western outskirts of the village when Kagome heard a faint high-pitched whimpering. Surely Sesshomaru had detected it with his preternatural hearing? She strode in the direction of a particularly dilapidated hut from whence the cries were drifting.

When she stepped inside, she saw two adult corpses huddled near a futon. Between the two rotting forms, however, Kagome espied a small child quivering. She dashed forward and snatched the child up before rushing out of the run-down house.

Sesshomaru was standing near the entrance when Kagome sprinted out, carrying something large and foul-smelling. He turned up his nose at the offending odor until he saw that the object in question was a wide-eyed child. Deep chestnut irises stared expressionlessly at him as Kagome grabbed a nearby bucket and dashed to the stream running behind what was presumably the child's home.

He stood motionless, watching its frightened gaze dart around before settling back upon his face. Dirty, round cheeks were streaked with tears and the child's threadbare clothing was unspeakably stained and torn. He watched in growing uneasiness as the child- a girl he assumed, considering the long hair and eyelashes- rose to its feet and tottered in his direction. Small grubby hands stretched out, and a shy grin split her little mouth as his scowl grew. He resisted the urge to step backward away from the little urchin.

Just before the little girl reached him, he heard Kagome sloshing up the bank of the stream, calling out for the child. When she saw the young girl's eager face staring at the imposing demon's surly one, she increased her pace and placed the bucket at the girl's feet, wash cloth in hand.

"You cannot keep her, miko. The road is no place for a child and will only slow our progression."

Kagome smiled as she began dipping the cloth in the fresh water and gently dabbing at the dirt and grime encrusting the child. Keeping a smile on her face so as not to frighten the girl, she sweetly ordered, "Sesshomaru-sama, check for survivors in the village."

The demon scoffed, clearly offended. "I warned you, woman. I do not take orders from ningen. The child stays," he growled in a monotone, attempting to retain his self-control as she continued bathing the girl.

The miko's eyebrows dropped dangerously low over her cold eyes, and a pulse of reiki escaped her grasp, making Sesshomaru's lips purse at the perceived threat. "Search. For. Survivors… Now," she ground out, each word punctuated by a slight fluctuation in the invisible reiki that danced around them.

Turning on his heel with a glare, Sesshomaru marched ahead on the road, leaving the two females behind.

Kagome's eyes followed the demon who gave the air of being offended, but the set of his shoulders told him that he was troubled. Shaking her head, she fixed her features into a semblance of tenderness and returned her gaze to the small pliant girl before her.

"I'm Kagome. What's your name?"

The little girl mumbled softly and averted her eyes. Kagome tilted her chin up to look into her shining brown eyes. A bright smile crinkled her face, and she was rewarded with a shy and demure grin from the child. The little girl leaned forward to whisper in Kagome's ear.

After the she pulled away, Kagome nodded understandingly as she set the rag next to the bucket. "Well, Rin-chan, shall we catch up with Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin slipped into Kagome's arms, burying her cheek in the priestess' right shoulder and fisting her hands in the clean white hakui.

Kagome grabbed her bow and stood, propping the child up on her hip, and strode with trouble down the muddy road, hoping to find the uneasy demon. She walked over the crest of a hill and found Sesshomaru waiting at the bottom, leaning with his back against a tree next to the road. The relaxed position and the macabre state of his clothing together created an image that burned into Kagome's mind.

As she approached, the demon opened his right eye and straightened upon seeing the miko.

"Miko, the child must stay," he stated gravely. He watched Kagome shake her head as she came closer. With a roll of his eyes, he tossed a package toward the approaching female, who caught it awkwardly with her free hand.

She looked down, and then gazed at him with a confused expression etched upon her features. In her hand was a folded child-sized everyday kimono.

Sesshomaru's face was fixed into the very image of petulant unhappiness as he averted his eyes from Kagome's puckish grin.


	8. Paint the Darkness With Your Light

The chirping of birds and humming of cicadas surrounded the trio as they traversed the uneven terrain near the road. Sunset's blazing rays bore down upon the burdened miko. Sesshomaru, walking in front of her, seemed unaffected. In fact, he appeared to be unaffected by everything: the hot air and scorching sun, the humidity, the mud, the blood and bits of viscera splattered across his clothing…

In the time since they left Rin's village five hours previous, Kagome had carried the withdrawn child the entire time upon her right hip. Rin had been silent during the trek, opting instead to suck on her thumb as a child 5 years her junior would. Meanwhile, Kagome's arm was burning from the strain. It felt as if molten steel was pumping through the blood vessels. Coupled with the oppressive heat, she was approaching her physical limit.

"Say, Sesshomaru-sama, when will we be able to stop? It's approaching nightfall, and Rin and I need to eat." She got no reply whatsoever from the aloof demon. Resisting the urge to mumble peevishly, she awkwardly shifted her longbow to her right hand and shuffled Rin to rest upon her left hip.

Her right arm and shoulder sagged in relief before her entire body tensed with as a new type of pain was introduced. The healing claw wounds in her left shoulder immediately began aching with the stress put upon the injuries. The edge of her sandal caught on the edge of an ill-placed stone, and she stumbled. Looking up, she saw that Sesshomaru had not turned around at either the sound of her uneven footfall or the surprised gasp that fell from her lips. She glared at the back of his head, gritted her teeth against the pain, and continued walking. Surely, Sesshomaru wouldn't make them walk through the night…

An hour later, Kagome was holding back tears and mentally slamming her face against a large, sandpapery boulder for being so stupid. Stupid enough to believe Sesshomaru had a merciful bone in his body, and stupid enough to move Rin to her left side, where she promptly fell into a deep and sleep; one that Kagome couldn't bear to disturb for something as trivial as her pain. With a tiny sigh, she continued forward, following the dim figure of the stoic demon before her.

As Kagome gently shifted Rin's uncomfortable position upon her left hip, Sesshomaru stopped and turned to look at the lagging miko. "We will make camp here," he stated in a clipped tone, crossing his arms upon his chest imperiously.

She looked around at the seemingly random location and brought her skeptical gaze back to Sesshomaru's hard face, one eyebrow rising in questioning. She got no response, and the stiff-shouldered demon walked into a thick copse of trees just off of the road. Kagome had no choice but to follow him into the darkness. As she approached, she saw him lounging against the trunk of a large oak, one arm slung over his knee casually.

Kagome carefully picked her way across the site in the darkness and gently deposited the sleeping Rin upon the ground under a soft-needled pine and settled against the bark of a tree nearby, wearily pulling a chip of dried meat out of her furoshiki and chewing on it apathetically. Swallowing the tough meat, she promptly closed her eyes as she began succumbing to exhaustion.

Just as she was standing upon the brink of sleep, she could hear a rustling to her left. She groggily opened her eyes and saw Sesshomaru staring at her. She returned his stare with a blank question written in her half-awake eyes.

"Your wounds have reopened."

Her shoulders sank, and she resisted the impulse to slap herself in the forehead. Of course her wounds reopened. She felt the flesh begin tearing mere moments after shifting Rin to her left side during their hike. He roused her just to tell her that?

"Thank you, my lord. I was unaware," she dully muttered while closing her eyes, praying that he would not pursue conversation.

Those hopes went unrealized. "This would not have happened if you had just left the child in the village where it belonged."

Biting back an irritated growl, she turned her head to look at him once more. "No, this would not have happened if you had bothered to help me carry supplies. I had to carry a limp child, a bow and quiver, and all of my rations and supplies." She testily crossed her arms and jammed her eyes shut, determined to ignore the maddening demon to her left.

"I fail to see how this is my problem," he levelly declared, crossing his own arms over his chest.

"But of course, the great 'Lord' Sesshomaru couldn't lower himself to help a dumb human, would he? No, of course not. I shouldn't have had the gall to expect some goodness out of such a 'highborn demon lord,' should I?"

She immediately regretted her irritable reply, and turned, wide-eyed to face Sesshomaru. His eyes were narrowed to dangerous slits.

Sigh. "I'm sorry for snapping. I'm just really tired." She turned to curl up on the ground, her back resting against the trunk of the tree. "Good night, Sesshomaru," she stated with finality, and she closed her eyes.

"Be sure to watch your tongue, miko. The next time you utter something so carelessly, it will be ripped out," was the reply she received, though it barely registered in her mind as she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

It seemed like mere moments later that a sharp stabbing sensation was tapping out an uneven pattern on her forehead. Furrowing her eyebrows, she sleepily tried to bury herself further into the hard ground. She was rewarded when the jabbing moved to her temple. With a long exhalation, she turned her head and cracked open her eyes.

Mere inches from her, staring into her face were two large, unblinking mahogany-brown eyes. Her own eyes snapped open and she bolted upward into a sitting position, her heart hammering in her chest. In front of her crouched Rin, sharp stick in hand with a broad smile stretched across her face.

Rubbing her abused temple tenderly, she chuckled when Rin burst into what appeared to be unprovoked laughter. Turning her head from side to side, effectively cracking the vertebrae in her neck, Kagome noticed that Sesshomaru was not to be seen near the camp.

Both she and Rin were taken by surprise when a loud, solid 'thump' resounded around them, making them both jump as Rin scampered to hide behind Kagome. Kagome turned to see Sesshomaru and, more importantly, the twitching, gushing body of a young spotted deer. The stony-faced demon indifferently walked back to his tree trunk and leaned against it, examining his once more bloodied claws. Kagome's head swiveled to face him, and she was sure her expression was the very picture of grim apprehension. He did not meet her gaze.

She instead turned to the fawn before her, which had stopped shuddering but was instead steadily leaking blood from a wide gash in the neck. Looking at its glassy eye, she hesitantly began skinning the animal.

"Do not get accustomed to this, miko, for it is not my duty to provide for you."

Schlep.

"I have repaid my debt: you returned my life, and so I-"

Squelch.

"…I have ensured your survival for the next few days. With that, I leave you."

Grunt.

"I do not have time for your dawdling and slow pace of travel, so-"

Growl.

"- I will set out on my own, for I surely can achieve more than you, despite my being at odds with all persons in my path-"

With a frustrated groan, Kagome threw her hands up into the air, completely oblivious to what Sesshomaru had been saying. The mangled hide that she had been trying to remove from the carcass flopped over pitifully. "What? I don't have time to listen to your yammering-"

She was effectively cut off when Rin, who had been crouching behind her, ran toward the tall demon and latched onto his leg, muttering as she buried her face into the fabric. Sesshomaru was scowling down at the child as if she was some manner of grotesque growth or parasite.

Without thinking, Kagome hurriedly wiped her slick hands upon her hakama and clumsily ran forward to enact some damage control. As she knelt by Rin's side at Sesshomaru's feet, she looked up at the unhappy male, whose left temple housed a vein that was pulsing in a rather curious manner. As she returned her gaze to the blubbering Rin, the young girl in question raised her red-splotched face, lips a-quiver and eyes brimming with shimmering tears, to look at Sesshomaru.

"D-don't leave, yokai-Sesshomaru-s-s-sama," Rin quietly entreated with a pathetically sweet and tiny voice. Kagome surreptitiously glanced up at the haughty demon, who refused to make eye contact with either of the females at his feet.

Kagome, sensing that any potential for danger had passed, returned to the bloody corpse of the deer. Sitting back upon the ground, she resumed what amounted to hacking and slicing what she hoped was skin and sinew and not edible muscle. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the demon's right hand slowly come down to rest awkwardly upon Rin's head, while Rin was hugging his leg in what amounted to an extremely uncomfortable display of affection for the ornery demon.

When she reached to her left to pick up a large piece of fallen birch bark upon which to put carved pieces of the deer's flesh, she saw the animal in question being dragged away. Sesshomaru, in fact, had grabbed one of the hind legs, knife in hand, and positioned the animal in front of his crouched form with a barbed glare at the inept priestess. With a few smooth moves of his arms, he finished the work that Kagome had messily started with a grace that made her fumblings seem like the inconsequential arm flailing of a small child.

A sheepish grin wormed its way across her face despite her best efforts, and she could feel a blush of embarrassment creep up her neck. Suddenly finding the need to occupy herself, she made a point to gather dry bark and wood to start a fire so that some of the meat garnered from the carcass could be dried. She pointedly deliberately avoided Sesshomaru's trailing gaze as she walked past Rin, who had found her pointed stick and had taken to poking at an earthworm, and she picked up a conveniently-shaped chunk of wood. She ignored the desire to throw it at his smug head.

*furoshiki: It's a piece of cloth tied around the shoulders; a knapsack of sorts. Sango carries one in when dressed in her commoner clothing. It's the blue thing she carries around her shoulders.


	9. A Sight to Silence the Heavens

That afternoon found Kagome pulling Rin from out of a tree, disentangling her from a blackberry bramble, and chasing her across a shallow stream on the other side of the thicket, all while keeping a watch on the thin strips of meat hanging to dry over the small fire in the middle of their campsite. Sesshomaru, of course, was nowhere to be found, as he had left shortly after skinning the mangled deer he had fetched earlier in the morning.

She was turning the half-cooked jerky when Rin ran out from behind a large oak tree to crouch beside the miko. Kagome eyed the child warily, wondering if the child would have her running all the way into the mountains just visible in the east this time. The child surprised her when, instead of running away in a fit of giggles, she smiled up at her with enthusiastic eyes.

"Can I pick some blackberries, Kagome-miko-sama?"

Casting her eyes down to Rin's purple-stained bare feet, she stifled a giggle. "I don't know, Rin-chan. After you went tearing through the bush, are there any berries left that aren't stuck to your feet?"

Taking the mild reply as a confirmation, she took off through the low brush.

Kagome turned back to check on the dehydrating meat before returning to her tree to rest her back upon the trunk. A cooling breeze sifted through the trees to play in the loose wisps of her hair. She closed her eyes, grateful in the welcome change in the weather.

She must have fallen asleep for a short while because the next thing she knew, her eyelids were groggily flying open to the sound of thundering footsteps rapidly approaching. As she sat up, Rin came crashing through the trees as if she was being chased by a legion of demons… which was a distinct possibility. Kagome's hand flew to her bow and arrows as Rin skidded to a halt before her and dropped a handful of berries upon the ground.

"Kagome-sama! Come see! Come see what I've found!" She grabbed the priestess' sleeve and started enthusiastically pulling toward the trees. Once Kagome realized that Rin's voice conveyed joy rather than panic, her muscles relaxed and sagged in relief, and she allowed herself to be dragged into the trees.

They crossed the stream, across which Kagome had earlier chased Rin, and trudged up the steep grassy hill on the other side.

"Where are we going, Rin? It better not be too far. We don't want to be missing when Sesshomaru-sama returns. That is, if he…"

Her voice trailed off when they reached the top of the hill. On the bottom of the other side lay a valley entirely covered with wild irises that grew in such thick abundance that it looked like a small purple sea that rippled like waves with the slight breeze.

Rin thundered down the hill and into the field, twirling in circles among the dense flowers, causing them to ripple and dance around her calves. She stooped occasionally to pick a flower or two and soon was holding a large bouquet.

Kagome sat upon the top of the hill, reveling in the spray of sweet fragrance that washed across her face with the wind that blew across the small valley from the west. It was approximately three hours until sunset by Kagome's calculation, so they had a little while before they had to be back to the encampment.

As an hour passed, Kagome sat idly atop the hill, watching the sun's slow descent into the horizon and the ever-changing shadows it casts. Look away for but a moment, and it has changed ever-so-slightly. In that moment, Kagome thought that she had gotten a grip, however small, upon what Sesshomaru must be feeling.

Sesshomaru…

Kagome abruptly stood up, having realized that she let more time pass than she had planned, and called Rin, who came scampering up, a huge bunch of sweet-smelling flowers in hand. Before she could say anything, however, Rin handed the entire bundle to her, saving one flower for herself. A warm smile stretched across her face.

"Thank you, Rin-chan. I trust you had fun today?"

Rin smiled and nodded her head but was interrupted by a wide yawn that she tried, but failed to stifle. Kagome giggled and took the child's hand in her own, guiding her down the slope toward their camp.

"I'm glad you had a good day. Why don't we head back and get supper started? We wouldn't want Sesshomaru-sama to return and call us lazy for not at least having a meal prepared?"

Rin sleepily laughed as she was led back to the encampment. When they arrived, Kagome found to her delight that the strips of meat hanging over the fire had successfully dried, and she rolled most of them in a mat, which she tucked into her furoshiki.

Dinner was uneventfully prepared and eaten with a small dessert course of the few blackberries Rin was able to scrounge earlier in the afternoon. Soon after, Rin was sleepily sitting in front of the fire with her single purple iris as Kagome combed the girl's dark hair. They were engaging in small talk when a bright light flashed across the sky and dropped into their campsite on the other side of the fire.

The blinding pale green light quickly faded, and its place stood Sesshomaru. However, instead of the bloody and battered-looking demon Kagome came to recognize, there stood a demon dressed in a new kimono with the royal crest, armor shining across his waist and torso with a long yellow and blue sash tied elegantly at his waist in the mainland fashion. An odd fluffy… thing rested upon his shoulder, and she intended to question him about it at a later time.

Her eyes came to rest upon two swords hanging formidably against his hip. Rin unexpectedly jumped up and shuffled toward the overly-imposing demon, who looked down at her with tense restraint. Kagome could feel her heartbeat skyrocket in unease as the small child stood on the very tips of her toes, careful of the spikes adorning his armor, to tuck her sole purple iris into the space between Sesshomaru's chest and his breastplate with a shy smile. She then dashed over to the same soft-needled pine where she had fallen asleep the night before and laid down, curling into a comfortable position and closed her eyes, almost instantly falling asleep. He did nothing to acknowledge the girl's actions but look at her impassively.

"Sesshomaru-sama…?" Kagome questioned, slightly perturbed by the demon's stony silence. He noiselessly sat upon the ground, straight-backed and as closed off as a clam shell. Eying the large bouquet of irises that lay upon the ground, she fished in her mind for something to say to break the ice that had formed between the two of them. He mechanically reached forward and laid another log upon the fire. She had an idea.

"Ne, Sesshomaru-sama?"

No response.

"Are there any demons around here?" She casually looked down, tracing her finger along the petals of an iris.

"… no." Short and curt. Something was bothering him.

"Are you sure, Sesshomaru-sama?" Every time she used his name, he seemed to flinch, though it was almost undetectable.

"They have been disposed of." Read between the lines.

"… oh."

Sesshomaru rose neatly and began walking away, into the trees that were highlighted orange and red by the setting sun. Deciding it would be safe to leave Rin for a little while, Kagome got to her feet to follow. He made no move to stop her or invite her.

She made to zoom up and walk in front of the male in an attempt to guide him. She turned around to look at him. He regarded her breech of protocol with a look of cool irritation. With a huff, she nodded in the direction of the small stream behind their camp. He followed, and when they reached the creek, he adroitly hopped over it, leaving Kagome to plod noisily across on her own.

Taking it in stride, she marched past him and up the shadowy embankment, fully expecting him to follow. She sat upon the crest of the hill, and he mirrored her actions, though, at a distance deemed suitable by him.

The crimson disc of the sun was balancing upon the horizon, and it looked as if it would roll to either side before the edge just barely sank below the skyline. In the valley below, the petals of the irises, darkened to a deep indigo by the shadows, were highlighted with tiny sprays of magenta where the light dared to touch. The two sat in silence; Sesshomaru with an air of barely contained aggravation and Kagome with quiet curiosity.

Finally Kagome turned to the demon after deciding which question to ask first, but when she saw him bathed in the red light of the setting sun, she hesitated. He was staring impassively into the field of irises in the valley below. With the red splashes of light cast upon his form, he truly looked the part of a killer, and his indifference to the beauty of the valley awoke a curious sadness in Kagome.

She thought that her experiment with the scenic vista had failed when they continued to sit with no words, and she was tempted to return to the camp until Sesshomaru spoke without looking at her.

"The view is noteworthy." Success.

"Ne, Sesshomaru-sama? Where did you get all of," she gestured to his ensemble, "this?"

"Kyoto."

"Kyoto?" she questioned unbelievingly. That was far too great a distance for one man to have gone in one day, let alone half a day.

"Kyoto," he confirmed. "My castle outside of the city." Short. Nondescript. Not very helpful. She was about to press further when he continued.

"Or, rather, what is left of my castle."

Kagome was unsure of what to say for a moment until it hit her. He hadn't known that his reign had crumbled as everyone else had. For everyone else, he had been out of power for fifty years, had been consigned to the scrolls in libraries of scholars. For him, he had found his life and his trappings dashed to pieces in a matter of days. She wanted to reach out to him, set a hand upon his shoulder, but refrained for fear of losing the hand. He continued evenly, still staring at the waving irises below.

"My station demands that I commit seppuku to end my shame and dishonor, but it seems that I cannot even do that."

There it was. "I had been meaning to ask you about that," Kagome softly stated, attempting to prompt him to further speak of his predicament.

Almost undetectably, he sighed. "I can be cut. I can bleed… but I cannot die."

Kagome's eyes widened. "B-but-"

Sesshomaru stood and pulled a large imposing sword out of its sheath at his side, pulled up his left sleeve, and drew the blade across his forearm. Blood poured from the deep wound, but he gave no indication of pain or even mild discomfort. Kagome shot to her feet, mouth agape, but he cut her off harshly.

"Miko, stop. Watch."

She forced herself to stay in place and watched in fascination as his flesh knit itself back together, leaving but a faint pink line that faded to invisibility. She raised her surprised face to look into Sesshomaru's and saw that he was gazing back at the tree line from whence they came. She understood. They both turned to walk back toward the camp, and Kagome made a mental note to always refer to him with his "proper" title, although it technically was not.

"Don't worry, Sesshomaru-sama. We'll figure it all out," Kagome attempted to reassure him. She cast her eyes up to his face and saw that he was staring at her with narrowed eyes. She was knocked out of her reverie when she plodded into the stream clumsily, almost falling on her face.

She was perplexed at his reaction. Was it because she insisted upon keeping Rin around? Or maybe he was angry because it was her fault that he was relegated to such a cursed unending existence? Kagome knew that it was the latter, and it weighed heavily upon her heart and seemed to slow her steps, causing her to fall far behind the demon.

What she did not know, however, was that the cause for his resentment was neither of those issues. Sesshomaru was so angered with himself, that he had projected those feelings of discontent upon the small woman. He was so ashamed at his dishonor, at his desire to tote around the trappings of his previous life, that he was surprised and angry that she did not share in those feelings of revulsion. He wondered at the priestess' seemingly endless capacity for kindness.

* * *

** I remember reading somewhere that the iris in the Japanese language of flowers (which is of course different from the other ones, such as the Victorian European version and so on) represents loyalty or something along those lines. I found it befitting for both Rin and Kagome, but in different aspects.


	10. I'm About to Cut Your Wings Away

The trio continued their trek toward the west in a nondescript manner… or at least what was deemed to be nondescript by Sesshomaru. His idea of "nondescript" was to walk in the middle of the road, shining like a beacon with his white kimono and polished armor, while Rin and Kagome were made to walk next to the road in all of the grass and muck.

Kagome shot a scathing glare at the back of the demon's dazzling head. Despite his explanation, being, "keeping you lowly humans out of danger while having a clear view for observation of the surrounding area," Kagome knew posturing when she saw it. It seemed that his new clothes and armor brought out a new boldness in the already-haughty demon that she didn't know existed. He was already so conceited and condescending before…

With a sigh, she looked ahead on the path. Looming another day's walk ahead of them lay Fuji-san and her home temple.

"Where are we going, Kagome-miko-sama," Rin asked softly after making certain that Sesshomaru was out of earshot.

"We're going to a temple at the base of Fuji-san. You see that tall mountain ahead of us?" She pointed ahead of them at the cloud-blanketed form of the mountain. "That's where we are going. There are people of great power there that Sesshomaru-sama and I wish to speak to."

She looked over to Rin, who was walking beside her, serious eyes downturned to gaze thoughtfully upon her feet. "People who can help Sesshomaru-sama," she inquired quietly.

Kagome was almost taken aback. It had been an unspoken rule not to speak of Sesshomaru's… predicament in front of Rin for fear of frightening or confusing her. Then again, Rin, while energetic and always moving, was also quite sharp and perceptive to a degree that impressed the priestess.

"…Yes, Rin-chan. People who can help Sesshomaru-sama…" She didn't have the heart to admit that she wasn't entirely sure that the elders at her temple would indeed be able to help the seemingly cursed demon that walked so confidently in front of them.

It was midday when Kagome saw the set of Sesshomaru's shoulders stiffen as he walked, and his hand ghosted over the larger sword at his waist. She surreptitiously glanced over at Rin, who seemed to have noticed nothing and was hopping amidst the tall grass as was normal. Kagome herself could sense no threatening auras or reiki in the area. When she raised her head once more, she saw that Sesshomaru's hand had returned to his side, but his torso was still held rigidly.

"We shall reach this temple of yours by nightfall, miko. Be prepared."

A bright ray of hope shone through Kagome's heart, and she excitedly began thinking of questions to ask the head priest and priestess at the shrine. They were sure to be able to think of something to help this demon, weren't they…?

The day seemed to drag on endlessly before the sun set behind the horizon, and shortly after, the first torii of her temple came into view from behind the trees.

"We shall make camp here," Sesshomaru declared imperiously as he jumped onto a bough of a nearby tree. Kagome was floored.

"But we're near the temple! You can't be so blinded by your sense of superiority that you missed the bright orange gate." She got no response. "Surely, my superiors will not deny you a place to stay; certainly not Rin-chan," Kagome protested as she pulled a strip of dried meat out of her furoshiki to hand to Rin, who had set up against the bark of a colossal oak tree and was tiredly rubbing her eyes.

From up in the tree, Kagome could see Sesshomaru's golden eyes narrow. "You may see to the people at your temple. There is nothing they can offer me," he lowly said.

She cast her eyes over to Rin, who had devoured the piece of jerky and was dozing peacefully in a hollow in the tree trunk. Seeing that the child was soundly asleep, she whipped her head back up to the demon.

"I will not leave her here with you. You've made it plenty obvious that you despise the poor girl. Why on earth would I leave her with you," she hissed incredulously. At that, Sesshomaru slid out of the tree and landed almost noiselessly on his feet. He cast a withering glare down his nose at her.

"No harm will come to the child in your absence. You will go up to your shrine if you insist, but know that you will not receive the warm welcome you have been expecting." Leaving Kagome with his infuriatingly enigmatic response, he leapt back into the tree and settled in amongst the leaves, gazing impassively down at the fuming priestess.

"Fine. I will return… well, I don't know. I'll report back to you as soon as I hear word, and we'll go from there I suppose," she whispered testily. With a swift turn, she marched past the torii and up the steep steps to her home.

As she reached the top of the stairs with a deep exhale, she felt a fundamental sense of wrongness, as if a veil of out-of-place-ness had blanketed the area. Nothing, it seemed, was out of the ordinary, so Kagome merely attributed the feeling to nerves. However, sneaking around the shrine in the dark made her feel uncomfortably like some kind of thief or criminal. The atmosphere seemed heavy and eerily quiet, and not a single light shone throughout the entire grounds. The darkness gave the impression of a covering of unnaturalness.

Wait. Not a single light?

A cold ball of icy dread formed in the pit of her stomach. Creeping through the shadows with a death grip upon her bow, she approached the shrine. A familiar doorway came into view through the darkness, and Kagome felt her blood run cold.

Protruding from the doorway lay a dainty pale hand surrounded by a puddle of glistening blood. Before she could comprehend her actions, she bolted toward the pallid upturned hand, attached to which was the head priestess of the shrine. Her sable eyes stared glassily at the ceiling. Kagome's breath hitched in her throat as she bit back a scream and stumbled backward. The paneling around the room was splattered with blood and had deep parallel gouges marring the wood. Claw marks…

A faint drip-drop noise could be heard overlaying the thick silence, and her head whipped around in an attempt to identify the source as her pulse skyrocketed. With as quiet of steps as she could manage, she tiptoed around the space. There was no possible way that the sound could be coming from the room itself, so with building dread, Kagome raised her face to look toward the ceiling. Before her eyes could adjust to the darkness above, a droplet of liquid fell to land just below her eyelid, and she wiped it away with her index finger. It came away red. She looked up once more. To her horror, she saw that, draped across the thin rafters, lay the battered form of the shrine's priest, rivulets of blood streaming from countless wounds. Another droplet of blood fell upon Kagome's upturned cheek as the priest slowly turned his head to look at her.

"Kagome-san," his weak moan seemed to drown in the oppressive stillness of the place. She could feel the bead of liquid sliding down her cheek, but she dared not break eye contact with the dying man.

"Kagome-san, the novices. Behind…" His eyes fluttered to half-mast.

"Kannushi-sama," she cried out, bringing him back to the brink of consciousness.

With a quivering breath, he tried again. "Behind the building… Kagome-san, you must help… the children…" A rattling breath left his chest, and his eyes rolled into the back of his head, showing the bloodshot whites. With no tension to support his form, the body slid down from the rafters and landed with a wet thud upon the blood-slicked wooden floor, his broken limbs twisted grotesquely beneath his torso.

Chest heaving with panic, she fled from the structure and out into the open where she tried to force fresh air into her burning lungs. Using the outer wall to guide her, she walked toward the back of the structure where a small copse of old camellia trees grew. Upon walking into the shaded grove, her stomach heaved at the sight before her. Sprawled in every direction, some on top of each other, were the brutalized corpses of the young miko apprentices. Mere children, all slain as they presumably ran for their lives to find cover under the trees. The back of Kagome's throat stung as viciously as her guilt as the contents of her stomach were forced from within her to lie upon the ground next to the proof of her inadequacy. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and steeled herself. She would not defile their memory or their sacrifice with her selfish tears. Walking back to the main building, she retrieved a shovel and set to work.

In the small hours of dawn the next morning, Sesshomaru glanced up from Rin's small sleeping form and saw Kagome descending the shrine stairs with a larger load in her furoshiki than she possessed before visiting the shrine. She passed the last torii with rigid shoulders, and he saw that her eyes, which normally held the serene stability of a clear brook, had turned to hard chips of ice, unyielding and closed off. As she approached, the smell of sweat, blood, and the faint trace of youki surrounded her like an invisible cloud. She looked at him, eyes tired and mouth pressed into a thin line, and gave a simple nod of confirmation. No words were necessary.

Upon hearing Kagome's sandals pad across the dry foliage underfoot, Rin sprang to life, bowing to the weary priestess.

"Ohayou gozaimasu, Kagome-miko-sama. Were you able to find help for Sesshomaru-sama?" She rubbed at her eyes with small fists.

Kagome was silent for a moment before replying, "No, Rin-chan. Unfortunately, nobody in the shrine was able to help. We'll have to move on, ne?" She plastered a smile upon her face as she began preparing their morning meal over the fire Sesshomaru had kept alive through the night.

The food was eaten in silence, and they promptly set out on the road for some destination unknown to either female in their troupe. Kagome forced herself to put one foot in front of the other as they continued heading west. She was bone-tired, both physically and mentally. As Rin dashed ahead of her to inspect something that piqued her interest, Kagome felt her heart grow heavy at the sight. Earlier, when she had buried the inhabitants of the shrine, she had dug a separate grave for the apprentices. She laid each girl in the grave with care; each small body causing her guilt to grow further, for despite knowing all of the novices, for Kagome, each girl bore Rin's face, still and unmoving in death.

* * *

*Kannushi= the head priest of a Shinto shrine said to (in olden times) be able to perform miracles and such. His female counterpart is the miko.  
*Ohayou gozaimasu= the polite way to say "good morning." "Ohayou" by itself is only used colloquially and not among superiors.


End file.
